CI ENGINE COMBUSTION

STAGES OF COMBUSTION IN CI ENGINES

1. Ignition delay or Delay Period

2. Uncontrolled combustion
3. Rapid or Controlled Combustion
4. After Burning
CI ENGINE COMBUSTION
1.Ignition delay - fuel is injected directly into the cylinder
towards the end of the compression stroke. The liquid fuel
atomizes into small drops /droplets and penetrates into the
combustion chamber. The fuel vaporizes and mixes with
the high-temperature, high-pressure air.

1.Uncontrolled combustion [Premixed combustion

phase ]– combustion of the fuel which has mixed with the
air to within the flammability limits (air at high-
temperature and high-pressure) during the ignition delay
period occurs rapidly in a few crank angles.
CI ENGINE COMBUSTION
3.Rapid or Controlled Combustion [Mixing controlled
combustion phase ] – Burning rate is controlled by the rate
at which mixture becomes available for burning. The
burning rate is controlled primarily by the fuel-air mixing
process.

3.After Burning [Late combustion phase] – heat release

may proceed at a lower rate well into the expansion stroke
(no additional fuel injected during this phase).
Combustion of any unburned liquid fuel and soot is
responsible for this.
P-θ Diagram
c
d

(θ)
Heat Release Diagram

Start of End of
injection injection
Delay period
1. Physical Delay
 The period of physical delay is the time between the beginning
of injection and the attainment of chemical reaction conditions.
 During this time, the fuel is atomized, vaporized, mixed with air
and the temperature is raised.
 Physical delay depends on type of fuel.
 High viscous fuel means high physical delay. It is reduced by
high injection pressures.

2. Chemical Delay
 During this period, preflame reaction start slowly and then
accelerate until the local inflammation or ignition takes place.
Delay period
 The delay period refers to the sum of physical and chemical delay.

 In most CI engines, the ignition delay is shorter than the duration of

injection.
 Ignition lag in SI engines is equivalent to the chemical delay in CI
engines.
 The delay period in the CI engines affects the rate of pressure rise
and hence, knocking results.
 It also affects the engine startability.
Delay period
 The pressure reached during the combustion depends up on
delay period.
 The longer the delay period, the more rapid is the pressure
rise, since more fuel will be present in the cylinder before the
rate of burning comes under control.
 Therefore, the diesel engine designers aim to keep the delay
period as short as possible.
 But some delay period is necessary, otherwise the droplets
would not be dispersed in the air for complete combustion.
Variables affecting delay period
1. Fuel
 Self ignition temperature

 Cetane number

 Viscosity
2. Injection pressure or size of droplet
 Fuel should be injected at the smallest size to obtain largest
surface to volume ratio
 Rate of burning depends upon the rate at which the products of
combustion can be removed from the surface and replaced by
fresh oxygen.
Variables affecting delay period
 Smaller droplets will have lesser momentum and hence lesser
relative velocity and once its initial velocity is lost it will travel in
air resulting in partial suffocation by its own products of
combustion.
 As the pressure rise after ignition depends on the area of
inflammation, if the droplet size is small, more aggregate area of
inflammation results in greater uncontrolled pressure rise.
 As the size of the droplet depends upon the injection pressure,
lower the rate of pressure rise during the uncontrolled phase and
smoother engine running.
Variables affecting delay period
3. Injection advance :
 The delay period increases with increase in injection advance.
This is due to the lower pressure and temperature when the
injection begins.
 If the injection advance is small, the delay period reduces and
operation of the engine is smoother, but the power produced is
reduced as large amount of fuel burns during expansion.
 The optimum angle of injection advance depends upon many
factors, but generally it varies between 12° to 20° before TDC.
This causes the peak pressure to occur 10° to 15° after TDC.
Variables affecting delay period
4. Compression ratio
 Increase in compression ratio reduces delay period as it rises both
temperature and density.
Variables affecting delay period
5. Intake Air temperature
 Increasing the intake temperature results in increase in the
compressed air temperature, which reduces delay period.
 Increasing the inlet temperature reduces density of air entering
the cylinder, hence volumetric efficiency and power output.
6. Jacket water temperature
 Increase in jacket water temperature increases compressed air
temperature and hence delay period is reduced.
7. Fuel temperature
 Increase in fuel temperature reduces both physical and chemical
delay period.
Variables affecting delay period
8. Intake pressure and supercharging
 Increase in intake pressure or supercharging reduces the auto
ignition temperature and hence reduces delay period.
9. Speed
Variables affecting delay period
10. Air fuel ratio

With increase in air-fuel ratio (lean mixture), the combustion

temperatures are less and cylinder wall temperatures are
lowered and hence delay period increases. The rate of pressure
rise is unaffected but the maximum pressure is reduced.

11. Engine size

The engine size has little effect on the delay period in milliseconds.
As large engines operate at low rpm, the delay period in terms
of crank angle is smaller and hence less fuel enters the cylinder
during delay period.
Factors affecting delay period in CI Engines
Sl no Increase in Variable Effect on Delay Reason
Period
1 Cetane No of Fuel Reduces Reduces SI Temperature

2 Injection Pressure Reduces Greater S/V ratio, hence less

physical delay
3 Injection timing Reduces Pressures and temperature
Advance lower when injection begins
4 Compression Ratio Reduces Increases air temperature and
pressure

5 Intake Temperature Reduces Increases air temperature

6 Jacket Water Reduces Increases wall temperature,

Temperature hence air temperature
Sl no Increase in Effect on Delay Reason
Variable Period
7 Fuel Temperature Reduces Better vaporation and increases
chemical reaction
8 Intake Pressure Reduces Increases in density, reach auto
(Supercharging) ignition temperature fast
9 Speed Reduces in time, Less loss of heat.
increases in crank
angle
10 Load (Fuel-Air Decreases Operating temperature
Ratio) increases
11 Engine Size Little effect on time Low RPM
but crank angle
decreases
12 Type of Combustion Lower for pre- Due to compactness of
Chamber combustion chamber.
chamber
Diesel Knock
 If the delay period is long, a large amount of fuel will be
injected and accumulated in the chamber.
 The auto ignition of this large amount of fuel cause high rate
of pressure rise and high maximum pressure which causes
knocking in a diesel engine
 A long delay period not only increases the amount of fuel
injected by the moment of ignition, it also improves the
homogeneity of the fuel-air mixture and its chemical
preparedness for explosion type of self ignition
Difference between SI and CI knock
1. In SI engines, detonation occurs near the end of
combustion, whereas in the CI engine, detonation
occurs near the beginning of combustion.
Difference between SI and CI knock

2. The detonation of SI engine is of a homogeneous

charge causing very high rate of pressure rise and

very high maximum pressure. In the CI engine, the

fuel and air are imperfectly mixed and hence the rate

of pressure rise is normally lower than that in the

detonating part of the charge in the SI engine.

Difference between SI and CI knock

3. In SI engine, it is relatively easy to distinguish between

knocking and non-knocking operation as the human ear can

easily find the distinction. In the case of CI engine, the normal

ignition itself is by auto-ignition and most CI engines have

sufficiently high rate of pressure rise per degree of crank angle

to cause audible noise.

Factors reducing knock in SI and CI engines
S. No Factors SI Engine CI Engine
1 SI Temperature of Fuel High Low

2 Delay period of fuel Long Short

3 Compression Ratio Low High

4 Inlet Temperature Low High

5 Inlet Pressure Low High

6 Combustion Chamber wall Low High

Temperature

7 Speed High Low

8 Cylinder Size Small Large

 Methods of controlling diesel knock
a) Design and operating factors for reducing delay period

The delay period can be reduced by reducing the degree of turbulence

as it will reduce heat loss. However, it will increase the combustion
period.

b) High rate of pressure rise and high maximum pressure in the second
stage if large amount of fuel collects during the delay period.

It can be reduced by arranging the injector so that only a small amount

of fuel is injected at first.
Methods of controlling diesel knock
c) The delay angle is reduced (cetane number is increased) by
adding chemical dopes.
 The two chemical dopes added are ethyl nitrate and amyl
nitrate in concentrations of 8.8gm/litre and 7.7gm/litre
respectively
 The chemical dopes increase the cetane number and accelerate
the pre-flame reactions and reduce the flash point.
 NOx emissions will be a problem.
 CI ENGINE
COMBUSTION CHAMBER
COMBUSTION CHAMBER
 It is the space within the cylinder when the piston is at the top
dead center.
 It is formed by the top of the piston and a cavity in the cylinder
head.
 Since the air-fuel mixture burns in this space, its design and
shape greatly affect the power, fuel efficiency and emissions of
the engine.
Factors to be considered while designing a
diesel engine combustion chamber
• High thermal efficiency
• Fuel requirement – ability to use less expensive fuel; multi
fuel capability
• Ease of starting
• Variable speed operation
• Smoothness of operation, without knock
• Low exhaust emissions
• Simple nozzle design
• High volumetric efficiency
• High brake mean effective pressure
CI Engine combustion Chambers
Shallow depth combustion chambers are mostly used in
the heavy engines running with the low speeds. As you
can see the shallow depth chamber diagram, the depth of
the cavity provided in the piston is quite small and the
diameter is large. Due to the large diameter, there will be
almost negligible squish.
As you can see the hemispherical chamber, the
depth to the diameter ratio can be varied. so that
the squish can be controlled to attain better
performance.
In a few modern diesel engines, this type of combustion
chambers was implemented. As you can see the Cylindrical
Chamber diagram, the shape of the combustion chamber is
truncated cone with the base angle of 30°. The Squish can be
varied by varying the depth. The swirl can be produced by
masking the valve for nearly 180°of the circumference.
Squash also can be controlled by varying the depth.
This Toroidal chamber design is mainly focused to
provide the powerful Squish along with the air moment.
As the more Squish, the mask needed on the inlet valve
is small and there is better utilization of oxygen.
CI Engine combustion chambers
Three parameters are used to characterize large-scale in-
cylinder fluid motion: swirl, squish, and tumble.
Swirl is the rotational flow about the cylinder axis.
Swirl is used to:
Rapidly mix fuel and air in direct injection engines
The swirl is generated during air induction into the
cylinder by either:
i) tangentially directing the flow into the cylinder, or
ii) pre-swirling the incoming flow by the use of helical
ports.
Induction Swirl and Open Combustion Chambers
Induction Swirl can be achieved by

 Careful formation of the air intake passages

 Making or shrouding the intake valve

 Squish
• Induction swirl is augmented by secondary air
movement called squish
• Squish is the radial inward movement of air
towards the combustion recess by squeezing
it out from between the piston and cylinder
head as they approach each other at the end
of the stroke.
Cylinder Swirl and its Generation

Swirl motion Tangential injection

Helical port Contoured valve

Squish
 Important point to be noted

• With a weak swirl, single hole nozzle cannot

provide desired air-fuel mixing.
• Hence, always multi hole nozzle (4 to 8 @ 1.2
to 1.5mm) is preferred for open combustion
chambers
Direct and indirect injection systems

Direct Injection (DI) System. In this system, fuel is injected directly into a
combustion chamber formed in the cylinder itself, i.e. between a suitably
shaped non-stationary piston crown and a fixed cylinder head in which is
mounted the fuel injector with its single or multiple spray orifices or nozzles.

Quiescent combustion system. Application-Four-stroke and two-stroke

engines mostly above 150 mm bore
Fuel Atomization - multi hole nozzle
Indirect Injection
Indirect Injection (IDI) Systems as used in IDI engines in which fuel is
injected into a prechamber which communicates with the cylinder through a
narrow passage. The rapid transfer of air from the main cylinder into the
prechamber towards top dead centre (TDC) of the firing stroke promotes a
very high degree of air motion in the prechamber which is particularly
conducive to rapid fuel-air mixing.

Prechamber system-compression swirl. Application traditionally to high-speed

passenger car engines but now increasingly replaced by direct injection engine